The Saga of Truck Norris

[Li'l Work Truck]

I'm going to attempt this post on my touchscreen. My wife took the Ranger in for an alignment. She's not an unintelligent woman, and is pretty well versed in automotive performance. She used to work at ATR, a now-defunct manufacturer of performance products for the Buick Grand National and other vehicles. That's why it infuriated me when she called me, telling me that the place I chose to get the alignment done was giving her about the tires on the truck being "a problem". You all already know what I'm talking about - no way I was putting new tires on the PO's worn out suspension - and the guy I usually go to hurt himself and so the shop is down for at least another month.

I wasn't mad at her, or that she called. I was mad because they were trying to sell her cheap AF tires after she told them that I'd already made an appointment somewhere else. They said they wouldn't warranty their work otherwise, and she asked if she should leave. I said, no, if we need to drive this truck to Charlotte in two weeks, it needs an alignment now, and tires when I get paid on the 12th. She agreed, and told them "he said just do it".

She called me afterwards, with a video of the truck driving kinda cockeyed. She said, "it's driving straighter". When I got home I took it back out. Yeah. Pulls to the left. Shudders at 65 (very well could be tires at this point). So, this is on me. I paid some wit to half- my alignment because I wouldn't let them upsell my wife. They refused to give her the alignment sheet. They told her the front wheel bearings weren't tight. Said they didn't even know what kind of bearings they were. This place has been around for damn near 50 years! They've been my backup place for almost 20. Apparently the owner died and the good people left.

I really, really hate some people. A lot. My wife offered to go because I don't have a lot of vacation time built up. I figured I wouldn't have a problem. I even called ahead and explained the situation. They said they'd take care of it, but no. Because women are stupid according to these guys, they don't have to do a good job.

I'm going to swap the steering system along with a bunch of engine seals, the coolant pump and hoses, timing chain, and hopefully by then my alignment guy will have healed. Otherwise, I'm going to try and find a level place to do a string and tape alignment. I've got an angle finder, four jack stands, some pink twine, a couple of tape measures, and if I need to go to YouTube University, whatever.

I'm just mad. I hate incompetence (yes, especially my own), sexism, and other people's "fixes" potentially causing me more work. Especially when I paid for it!!!

 

[scotts90ranger]

Setting toe is pretty simple as long as everything else is relatively close... my dumb method hasn't let me down yet... I make sure to drive straight into somewhere flat, if not possible to drive straight for at least 20' back up and go back forward straight a few times to get the suspension settled. Then I crawl under with a tape measure, one end against the wheel usually up against radius arms (I'm a twin beam guy... use whatever you can as a reference) in the back and watch where the bend in the tape hits (make the tape do a whole 180, repeatable) then go to the same height on the front part of the rim at the same height and again watch the measurement where the tape hits. The measurement doesn't matter much so don't worry about it being in the bend (talked myself out of overthinking that years ago, there's logic...) the point is to have a little bit of toe in. I go to the wheel because it isn't rubber and in theory should be rigid but with that said the normal rule of thumb is 1/8" of toe in but I go 1/16" or wing it until it feels right...

Shops can't find any good people anymore, most people anymore are too dumb... I have a friend that's a mechanic and the struggle is real... is similar at my work too...